As March continues on its merry way, I take a moment today to mention that March is, in fact, Women's History Month.  Why?  For too long, historians tended to overlook women and the role they played in moving humanity forward.  Conditioned by the social nuances of their times, and driven, perhaps, by various levels of cultural chauvinism or myopia, most historians, traditionally male, dismissed the contributions that women have made to the human adventure.

     Happily, this is changing.  If we are to hold that men and women are both made in the image of God and are therefore of equal worth, we err, err seriously, when we ignore, reject, or pass over the many ways that women have shaped human history for its good.  To overlook, deliberately or otherwise, the achievements of women is tragic, really:  we are in truth forgetting the meaning of the framework, physical as well as metaphysical, in which the universe functions.  It's no accident that when the writer of Proverbs 8 described wisdom, he personified it as a woman.  He knew.  He knew that male and female are woven deeply into the created order.

     Moreover, an integral part of Shabbat is singing Eshet Hayil ("woman of valor"), Proverbs 31's ode to the virtue of a godly woman.  And why not?  Without women, none us would be here today.  Some even connect Eshet Hayil to the Shekhina, the much revered, and gossamer like, feminine presence and expression of God.

     Therefore, whether you believe in God or not, believe in the worth of every human being, male and female all.  Celebrate who we are!